Discrimination factors of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from diet to hair in captive large Arctic carnivores of conservation concern

L'Hérault, Vincent; Lecomte, Nicolas; Truchon, Marie-Hélène; Berteaux, Dominique

doi:10.1002/rcm.8239

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In contrast, Δ15Ns used in studies focusing on pelagic food webs were much lower, which is due to the low factor applied in ringed seals (P. hispida) in multiple studies in the Canadian Archipelago (2.4‰) (Brown et al 2016;Houde et al 2017). Although the majority of studies included in the present study use fractionation constants as reported by Post (2002) (3.4) or Hobson and Welch (1992) (3.8), a wide range of fractionation factor values were reported in the literature (Lecomte et al 2011;L'Hérault et al 2018). Multiple studies revealed that the nitrogen fractionation factor Δ15N may decrease with increasing dietary protein quality in the organisms diet, implying that nitrogen discrimination will be lower for species at higher trophic levels (i.e.…”

Section: Trophic Level Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Variability in nitrogen-derived trophic levels of Arctic marine biota

et al. 2020

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Stable isotopes are often used to provide an indication of the trophic level (TL) of species. TLs may be derived by using food-web-specific enrichment factors in combination with a representative baseline species. It is challenging to sample stable isotopes for all species, regions and seasons in Arctic ecosystems, e.g. because of practical constraints. Species-specific TLs derived from a single region may be used as a proxy for TLs for the Arctic as a whole. However, its suitability is hampered by incomplete knowledge on the variation in TLs. We quantified variation in TLs of Arctic species by collating data on stable isotopes across the Arctic, including corresponding fractionation factors and baseline species. These were used to generate TL distributions for species in both pelagic and benthic food webs for four Arctic areas, which were then used to determine intra-sample, intra-study, intra-region and inter-region variation in TLs. Considerable variation in TLs of species between areas was observed. This is likely due to differences in parameter choice in estimating TLs (e.g. choice of baseline species) and seasonal, temporal and spatial influences. TLs between regions were higher than the variance observed within regions, studies or samples. This implies that TLs derived within one region may not be suitable as a proxy for the Arctic as a whole. The TL distributions derived in this study may be useful in bioaccumulation and climate change studies, as these provide insight in the variability of trophic levels of Arctic species.

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Section: Trophic Level Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Variability in nitrogen-derived trophic levels of Arctic marine biota

et al. 2020

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“…In our mixing models, we incorporated uncertainty in both our isotope and red fox discrimination factors. While controlled feeding studies have been performed on wolves (Derbridge et al 2015, L'Hérault et al 2018, red fox discrimination factors have been commonly-used for wolf diet studies (Ballard et al 1987, Derbridge et al 2012, Rode et al 2016. Derbridge et al (2015) found that specifying wolf fractionation rates made little practical difference when estimating wolf diet.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and inter‐annual variation in diet for gray wolves Canis lupus in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan

et al. 2020

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“…Biological molecules such as steroids are incorporated into the hair shaft while levels of hormones such as progesterone and testosterone in hair correlate to levels found in human serum (Kersey & Dehnhard, 2014). Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of hair is extremely useful when trying to piece together an animal's nutritional history (Ehrich et al, 2015; Oelze et al, 2020; Tan & Dominy, 2018), because hair can act as a “tape recorder,” recording the isotopic signal of diet at the time the hair was grown and how diet changes over time (L'Hérault et al, 2018; Oelze et al, 2020; Schillaci et al, 2019). However, to use SIA or other analyses of hair samples to the greatest effect, it is useful to understand hair growth rates so that the results of the analysis may be linked to the time at which the hair, or section of hair, was grown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…"tape recorder," recording the isotopic signal of diet at the time the hair was grown and how diet changes over time (L'Hérault et al, 2018;Oelze et al, 2020;Schillaci et al, 2019). However, to use SIA or other analyses of hair samples to the greatest effect, it is useful to understand hair growth rates so that the results of the analysis may be linked to the time at which the hair, or section of hair, was grown.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal differences in hair growth rates of captive aye‐aye, red ruffed, and black‐and‐white ruffed lemurs

2022

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Hair can be an important source of biological information, providing a record of such things as pollutant exposure, hormonal levels, and stable isotope ratios. Hair as a biological sample is easily accessible, easily stored, and resists degradation. Analysis of hair is particularly useful when studying rare and endangered species, such as lemurs, since it can be sampled noninvasively. However, to better interpret the results of stable isotope or other analyses, it is important to understand hair growth rates. We measured hair growth rates in captive aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis), red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra), and black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata), both in winter (December 23, 2013, to January 13, 2014) and summer (July 10-31, 2013) at the Duke Lemur Center. Hair growth per week in all three species of lemurs differed significantly between the boreal summer and boreal winter. The aye-aye, black-and-white ruffed lemur, red ruffed lemur had a mean weekly hair growth of 0.195, 0.209, and 0.232 cm, respectively, in the summer.While the aye-aye, black-and-white ruffed lemur, and red ruffed lemur had a mean weekly hair growth of 0.239, 0.464, and 0.479 cm, respectively, in winter. We found no effect of age on hair growth rates, neither in the boreal summer, nor in the boreal winter for black-and-white ruffed lemurs and red ruffed lemurs. A pregnant blackand-white ruffed female displayed negligible hair growth during the northern winter, suggesting that pregnancy may affect the partitioning of resources away from such things as hair growth.

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Discrimination factors of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from diet to hair in captive large Arctic carnivores of conservation concern

Cited by 10 publications

References 42 publications

Variability in nitrogen-derived trophic levels of Arctic marine biota

Variability in nitrogen-derived trophic levels of Arctic marine biota

Seasonal and inter‐annual variation in diet for gray wolves Canis lupus in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan

Seasonal differences in hair growth rates of captive aye‐aye, red ruffed, and black‐and‐white ruffed lemurs

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